Feeling right at home
Mastodons chasing second straight national men’s fast pitch crown in St. Croix, N.S.
It’s one thing to win a championship. Quite another to defend it.
The East Hants Shooters Bar & Grill Mastodons, however, appear up for the challenge.
The Mastodons enter today’s 10-team Canadian men’s fast pitch tournament in St. Croix, N.S., as reigning champs after winning Nova Scotia’s third national title in the long history of the event last year in Saskatoon.
“Every team is going to be strong; every team is loaded with good players,” said Mastodons assistant coach Mike Wood, of Stewiacke, N.S.
“You look up and down the lineups of these teams, these are the best players that our country has to offer. It won’t be easy,
but make no mistake, we have a very good team as well and we’re going to go out and do what we can to get there and play on (championship) Sunday.”
The core of the East Hants team remains the same with a strong pitching staff that includes anchor Justin Schofield – last year’s playoff round MVP. Donnelly Archibald, an all-star at the 2017 event, and Travis Nevin will also toe the rubber for the hosts.
Shortstop Nick Shailes and outfielder Mark Johnson, both members of Hill United of Ontario, are import pickups for the Mastodons, who open the tournament at 11 a.m. against B.C.’s Sooke Loggers.
“I kind of feel we are a very well-rounded team,” Wood said. “We don’t rely on scoring a lot of runs, but we can; we don’t rely on our pitchers to shut teams down, but they can.
“We have great pitching and we have some of the best hitters in the country on our team, so for me the fact that we are very well-rounded and talented in every aspect of the game is going to help us. It makes it so that we don’t rely on one thing.”
Nova Scotia is hosting the tournament for the third time in the past 20 years with previous national championships being played in St. Croix in 1998 and 2004. Saskatoon won in 2004 and the Halifax Jaguars defeated the Halifax-Windsor Keith’s.
Wood said playing at home is special for players and provides obvious advantages.
“There will be a lot of people there and the vast majority of them will be pulling for us. Having our families involved and having them close is definitely special and we’re just down the road from home, so it will be fun to play against the rest of the country on the fields that we play on through the weeks here.”
Most of the Mastodons’ roster is comprised of athletes who play during the summer on different teams in the six-team Shooters fastpitch league.
Wood said despite not being together on a full-time basis, the Mastodons benefit from the high calibre of ball that’s played in the league.
“The main thing is that our league is no slouch, and every night you see quality players to play against and quality pitching,” he said.
“That’s the bigger part, playing good ball, and we’ll come together as we have in the past because the core group of this team has been together for quite some time now.”
Newfoundland’s Galway Hitmen enter the tournament as one of the favourites. The core of the team won five straight national titles before losing last year’s championship game to the Mastodons.